Race to be run as tribute to slain friend

A late entry request came in for the sold-out Carlsbad Half Marathon that race organizers couldn’t ignore. It was from Tammy Okelberry, a single mother of three who wrote about Kathy Scharbarth, her Carlsbad neighbor with whom she was training for the marathon — Kathy’s first.

“She and her daughter became like family to me and my little ones,” wrote Tammy. “We spent a lot of our time together, joking that we were like roommates. … We looked out for each other and protected one another, confided in each other and helped each other out.”

But the last time Tammy ever spoke to her friend was Nov. 23, Thanksgiving eve, the night before Kathy’s 34th birthday. Kathy’s body was found the day after Thanksgiving, and her ex-boyfriend is charged with her murder.

“She had so many people that loved her, adored her really, and we are trying to heal,” Tammy noted, and asked race organizers to let Kathy’s friends and relatives, who are rising money for Kathy’s daughter’s trust fund, finish the race for her.

“We want to honor her and have a day that is all about Kathy,” said Kathy’s sister, Melissa Scharbarth.

In Motion, the race organizer, quickly corralled 10 spots from sponsors and others in Sunday’s Tri-City Medical Center Carlsbad Half Marathon. Melissa, Kathy’s daughter and Kathy’s mom will be among the entrants, recognizable by their “Team Kathy” T-shirts.

On the move: Erin Spiewak started in 2003 as a volunteer mentor at Monarch School, a downtown San Diego school that serves children impacted by homelessness. Now she is taking over as CEO.

Spiewak, former executive director of the Gary and Mary West Foundation, joined the staff this month to work with Monarch’s current CEO Ronne Froman, who is transitioning into the role of Board of Directors president. The change becomes official Feb. 1. They’ll continue working together on the school’s capital campaign as they prepare to break ground in February on a new, larger campus in the East Village-Barrio Logan neighborhood.

Brown in town: City Club of San Diego President George Mitrovitch got a surprise call on Jan. 13 from Gov. Jerry Brown asking if he could address San Diegans on Jan. 19. Brown planned to use the forum to promote his 2012 agenda and proposed tax increase. Mitrovitch was quick to remind Brown of his last City Club speech seven years ago. Then mayor of Oakland, Brown had confided that, as a mayor, he found out how difficult it was to implement some of the legislation he had signed into law during his earlier stint as California governor.

On the spot: “How do you argue against a president when you disagree with their action, statement or decision?” That question was posed to former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by seventh-grader Andres Worstell during Rice’s visit Thursday to The Bishop’s School ﻿in La Jolla.

You need to have a relationship with the president that allows you to disagree, replied Rice. If you don’t, she emphasized, you should resign. She added that when she worked with President George W. Bush she never was faced with making that decision.